We see them everywhere. You know them, the adorable mommy and me posts. The perfect Christmas cookies; flour in your hair, frosting on your little one's nose. Craft days with hot glue guns and pom poms. Laughter fills the air, sunlight kisses perfectly polished hardwood floors, a young - and no doubt perfectly in shape - mom giggles with her adoring toddler. It looks like perfection. I think we've all even seen those posts and claimed them a sort of Pinterest-perfection. But what don't we see? I'll tell you, at least in my experiences, what hides in the shadows of the perfectly swept up curtains and the polished floors.
Time.
More clearly, time away from being a mom...in order to be a "better" mom.
Those floors didn't clean themselves and I'd be willing to bet there was an episode or two of Daniel Tiger playing while Mom cleaned the toys off of them, dug out the Swiffer, and took care of business.
Sure, baking cookies is fun! But you have to go through the cabinets checking ingredients, drag the little one into the stores, and then...lets not forget the CLEAN UP. Yep. You had the fun, made the memories, it was awesome! And then it hits you. Stay up until midnight (or later if your child is like mine and doesn't believe in sleep) to clean the dishes...or rely on Dinosaur Train to entertain the little angel in the morning while you do dishes.
Do you sense a theme? Am I alone in this? I don't think I am. And it made me wonder.
Are we so obsessed with creating Pinterest-perfect memories, that we willingly forsake the little moments? In the shadow of a crib coming down and a toddler bed going up, are we going to regret the lie of "it's bedtime!" so we can get the clean up started? Meanwhile missing the soft snuggles that come with sleepy eyes and a tiny hand on your face - simply wanting the comfort of mommy being near.
Will my 17 month old remember that I made lasagna by scratch, that the floor was polished, that we made a light-up firefly from a plastic Easter egg and a battery operated LED?
Or will she remember how I played on the floor with her, teaching her animal sounds by playing. That she helped me clean up, hand in hand. How we played and talked and focused so much on the moment of life that we were so blessed to spend together that I sensed a needed nap before the cries came.
I'm not saying we shouldn't have those Pinterest-perfect moments. I'm just wondering if maybe those moments don't happen a million times a day, without the perfect poses and expert photographer present. I don't have a photo of her hand reaching for my arm, making sure I was still there, as we laid in bed watching Sesame Street and eating chocolate cookies. But I can feel it. I can see it in my mind. And the time I lifted her into my arms, laid her on my chest and watched her close her eyes for a nap. I can feel the soft tendrils of baby-fine hair that tickled my lips, how soft her little head was when I kissed it.
Dishes don't bring those memories. Polished floors make toddler socks slick. Plan your crafts for when a playmate or family member will be around to help or those nights you can't sleep. Do the planning then. And for goodness sake. Get off your computer or phone- now, quit reading, and go kiss that baby. Did she walk up to you in the time it took you to read this? You saw her from the corner of your eye but you kept reading and she walked away. Go to her. The memories are already in the making, don't stress over the planning and prep and cleaning and perfection. Go live in the perfect moments that won't ever make it to social media. We all know the saying, "Babies don't keep."
